Makers and Water

The Kitty Reunion - or, The Shelby's visit Madison

2012-01-05T16:27:00.003-06:00

Mom and Dad were here for Christmas which was so great. But we felt like that just wasn't enough time. So we went down to Madison for the rest of the week before New Years'. We got to relax at the house and see some good friends. But the real story was how happy Sherman was that we took him, too! He was so happy in fact that we caught him cuddling. For the first time ever! Literally, this cat has never settled down long enough to sit in one of our laps and snuggle with us. He may think it doesn't count since Jason was asleep and didn't know it was happening, but I was there! I saw it!

Snuggles!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T16:17:00.000-06:00

Christmas. Was. Awesome.

I was planning to write a nice long blog post describing how great it was, but here's the photographic proof.

Sweet Jason sent my present early via our elf!

Sherman got a tank!

Mr. Big and his M, and Christmas bone!

Star Wars lunchbox for my honey.

Christmas night at the Luckett's

Cooper, Crady and I

Gift Wrapping Tutorial

2011-12-22T22:57:00.001-06:00

by guest blogger, Sherman.

First, begin by choosing cute paper.

Then you bite the paper.

Decide where to fold the paper.

Then put your paw in there to fold it down/crumple it up!

You may find yourself with some scraps after wrapping.

It's important to ~~recycle~~ play with all the scraps.

And that's how you wrap a present, kitty-style.

Sherman's NIghtly Ritual

2011-12-10T13:11:00.001-06:00

Sherman gets very playful at night. He eventually learned that as we were getting into bed, he could get our feet as we pulled them under the covers. This is his favorite thing now and actually sits by the bed waiting for us to get into it. Crazy kitty. But so cute!

Keeping Baby Cooper

2011-12-05T13:40:00.001-06:00

This post is late, but several weekends ago we got to keep Cooper! Crady's sister Madeline was getting married in New Orleans. This pretty much guaranteed that no one else in the family could help out! Plus, I have a little experience in knowing his schedule so we were the lucky pair chosen to watch him! We had so much fun with him, and got some great practice. He's such a happy little guy. Granted, he does have a few more maintenance items, but Crady has him on a great schedule that was easy to follow. Here's a few shots we got with our phones.

Passed out on Jason

Having Italian!

He loves his stander!
We also introduced him to Sesame Street
and he loved it!

He LOVES his Aunt Sarah!

Also, here's a video we got. He loves to be tickled! His laugh is so sweet. Enjoy!

Joggin' Jason!

2011-12-04T13:20:00.000-06:00

Jason Shelby ran 13.1 miles this weekend! I was so proud of him!

Finished!

The 2011 St. Jude Marathon weekend was a blast! Jason was a member of Alexa's team, and he ran in honor of me and in honor of all my years of treatment I've received as a St. Jude's patient. Here's his page, he really raised a lot of money!

I've never been to an event like this(why would I? Ha!), but it was such a well-oiled machine. We figured out exactly where to go and what to do pretty easily. There were a lot of other Clarksdale folks there, too so we had a great time with them. We can't wait for next year!

At the Start; so excited!

Vestry Egg Nog 2011

2011-12-01T22:00:00.000-06:00

My sweet honey

It's Advent, everyone! That means it's time for the Shelby's Vestry Egg Nog Party. In a tradition stolen from Kyle and Brian Seage, we host a Christmas party for the Vestry every year, early in Advent. We love having people over and are so glad almost everyone came. Here are some shots of the festivities:

Thrown down, Anna T!

Paula "Mama" and Sarah

Crumb patrol

Jason and Shelia

Daven

2011-11-07T17:36:00.000-06:00

I went to Jackson for Mistletoe again this year. Didn't buy too much, but had an awesome time with Mom and Aunt Sue. But the definite highlight of the trip was getting to meet this precious angel!

Daven Gage Watts

He was born on October 5th, and this is the first chance I had to see him. His due date all along was October 18th, my birthday. Obviously he didn't make it that long! But I think it's great that he actually arrived on the date I was due! That's right, sleeping beauty herself was over two weeks late! Sorry, mom.

I'm so happy and excited for Bree and Jay. Daven is so perfect and precious, I couldn't stand to put him down. Definite baby-hog! I'm so glad I got to visit, and it was awesome to see everyone. The Nikki's were there too! Here's a few more.

Big stretch!

Hershey's such a good big brother!

Petting the puppy?

He folded his hands while eating! How cute!

Funny face!

Chicken Enchilada Throwdown

2011-10-26T15:56:00.000-05:00

Semmes won.

Mr. Big and Jack

Sam smells so good!

Sweet Semmes in the kitchen.

The winning recipe!

Jack's were good too! Just a bit spicy. Celia's fault.

Indiana in Mississippi

2011-10-24T18:07:00.006-05:00

Jason's parents, Bobbie and Steve Shelby came to visit! We are so glad they had the chance to come - it was wonderful to see them. As soon as people at church heard they were coming, they just had to throw a party. Ok by us! Our sweet friend Eva hosted such a beautiful party. Thank you to everyone who came.

Food, glorious food!

Since this was their first visit, we were anxious for them to meet as many people and do as much as possible, without wearing them out too much! Thursday we went to Ramon's with the Henke's. Friday was the party but we also showed them to see the church and to Abe's for lunch. Saturday morning we took them to Merigold for pottery shopping, back just in time for lunch and football at the Denton's. After a nap, we visited the Bobo's for dinner, which will be detailed in its very own post. Sunday was church of course. Then we took it easy on them Sunday evening and had a nice dinner at home. They left this morning, but we're hoping to get them back in April for Juke Joint? We hope!
We're glad they came. We had a great time hanging out with them and it was so nice to be able to show them around all our precious friends.

At church

Our moms!

Birthday cake surprise!

2011-10-17T17:36:00.000-05:00

Mom and Dad came to visit this weekend. They were way overdue to come see us. Plus, it was the Tennessee WIlliams festival so there were fun parties. I miss them so much, it was so good to have them here. They brought a delicious surprise with them! Check this out!

It even matched my sweatshirt.

Sweet Raegan has been making cakes as a new hobby and donated one to the Drawdown. Mom won it! So she made a delicious birthday cake just for me! It was so good and probably the prettiest cake I've ever had! Thanks Rae!

Mr. Big wanted some too!

Sea Island, GA

2011-09-25T11:22:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we headed out to Georgia for Camille and David's wedding. Camille's parents go to Jason's church and honored us by asking him to perform the ceremony held in Sea Island, GA. Destination Wedding! It was a blast. I honestly never understood why not getting married in your church or at least where one of your parents live was such a popular thing these days. Well, now I get it! This place was absolutely beautiful. The ceremony was so sweet, the staff at each of the locations was most accommodating and the weather turned out great. Not to mention Camille was such a beautiful bride. Here's a pic of us snapped just before the rehearsal dinner.

Forgot my hairspray. But remembered my hott husband!

We stayed on St. Simon's Island, which is located a few minutes away from all the action. Our Inn was right across the street from a lighthouse. Lighthouses are a "thing" for my family because my Papaw worked at one on the Gulf Coast. The original structure of this lighthouse was the FIRST ever lighthouse in America. The Confederates burned it to the ground during the Civil War so the Yankees wouldn't get it. They reconstructed this bad boy later on.

We should have climbed up to see if our names were on a giant wheel inside of it. #LOST

One of the best parts of the entire trip was meeting our amazing new friends Ben and Erin Chrisman from San Francisco. They were the photographers for the whole event. Oh right, they're also among the top wedding photographers IN THE NATION! And really nice people to boot. We had a great time hanging out with them ~~til 3am~~ during some of the downtimes of the weekend. Please check out their website and blog prepare to have your face rocked.

The Chrismans working their magic with the wedding party.

Nothing like a wedding to make you remember your own - I'm so glad I have my Jason.

Unexpected Happenings

2011-09-10T10:40:00.000-05:00

So there it was, right there on my Google Calendar: M and Big Daddy visit Clarksdale! scheduled for September 2-5. It was all arranged, we'd cleaned (sort-of), and people were even having us all over so they, too could spend more time getting to know my awesome Mom and Dad. Then disaster struck. I ended up with a Urinary Tract Infection. Not just any UTI. A UTI that was masquerading as the most awful nausea and gas pains. I could not have been more surprised. I ended up in the ER on Saturday morning, making it out just in time to catch the Ole Miss game from the couch. Which I don't remember a single play of. Oh Mom and Dad still visited, of course. But I hardly remember them being here at all! In fact I was just beginning to become coherent again when they had to go home. I'm glad Mr. Big got to spend time with them, too. I'm fine now - it really was just a UTI and not more severe gall bladder issues, as my doctor suspected. Feeling so bad makes you grateful for the health you normally have.
Speaking of health, we had some not-great news in August. It turns out the medication I take for iron chelation is not doing as well as my doctors would like. To ensure that as much extra iron as possible is being flushed from my system, they've added Desferal. Some of you may remember I was on this for a long time before Exjade became available. It's a subcutaneous injection, meaning I have to stick myself. Boo. But I'm older now and really feel it's important to do this the right way, and have pledged full compliance. I want to make sure I can be as healthy as possible for Jason and the rest of our family. So hopefully stupid Desferal will do the trick. Wish me luck!

Girls + Cooper Vacay!

2011-08-28T13:55:00.001-05:00

It's been too long since my last post! Sorry. In June, I was invited to go to Destin with some friends from Clarksdale. So Trish, Celia, Crady(plus her precious Cooper), and Semmes and I all stayed with Trish and had a fabulous time. We soaked up some sun, ate A LOT, played Mah Jongg and just relaxed. I had such a fantastic time with these ladies and got some good baby lovin' from Cooper. Here's a pic from our last night there. We went to the Lucky Snapper.

Semmes, Cooper, Celia, Me, Trish and Crady

Daven's Shower! For Bree and Jay

2011-08-23T14:13:00.000-05:00

We had a shower for Daven last weekend in Jackson. It was so good to see all my girls again. Bree is such a cute preggo! He's due on my birthday in October! Bree and Jay loved the shower and they received so many awesome gifts.
We also spent some time with my parents, it was so good to see them. Mom and I had some shopping time. Saturday we all went to Another Broken Egg in Ridgeland. Soooo good!

Nikki, Me, Nikki, Bree(and Daven!), Lisa, Leslie, and Amy

Little Rockin'

2011-06-06T11:35:00.000-05:00

We went to Little Rock Friday and Saturday to see Crady and Brad! And of course, precious Cooper. We had the best time hanging out with them, plus Semmes was there, too.

So Friday, we arrived and went to lunch for what? Oh, of course, SUSHI! Since there's no sushi place in Clarksdale we crave it anytime we go out of town. Brad had been working all night so he went to bed. I'm so proud of Crady for trying to get some culture into us: after lunch we went to the Little Rock Central High School, famous for the integration of 1957. There was a museum and we actually got the tour the school, which was the biggest and most palatial high school I've ever seen. It's still one of the top 100 schools in the country.

Little Rock Central High School

The most profound thing I took away from the experience was not so much the integration itself that first year, which was a terrifying ordeal enough for the nine african-american students that wanted to attend Central. It was the fact that the very next year, then-Governor Faubus closed the entire district down. That meant that if you could afford private school(basically, most whites), then you could go to school. But everyone else had to move out of the area, or send their children off to relatives so they could go to school. So several of the Little Rock Nine didn't even graduate from Central, they had to go somewhere else. What a slap in the face! And you sure don't hear about that part as much, do you?

The museum preserved a gas station across the street from the school. That says 22c a gallon!

For supper Friday we went to the Flying Saucer for dinner and just about any beer you wanted! Cooper stayed home. Here's Crady and I.

I love how in the best one, we're not even looking at the right camera. What does that say?

Semmes and Jason

Crady and Brad loveeee

Precious angel sweet baby!

We played Mah Jongg after the bar. But Mr. Big was soooo tired.

Saturday morning Crady and Jason went for breakfast and I had my first Colache(sp?). It's a delicious sausage with delicious cheese wrapped in delicious dough. Basically a large pig in a blanket, and how can that be wrong? I kept calling them Coochahallies. Afterwards we went to the downtown farmer's market. Jason got a tomato! He and Semmes ate it all. Cooper was a sleepy guy.

Jason and his mater

Tired baby

We also went to this amazing local bookstore, but weren't able to stay long. We had to get back for lunch and then played with the baby and catchphrase. Then it was time for us to go home. But we will be back! Thanks Crady and Brad.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-05-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

We went to Madison over the weekend. Jason had a camp director's meeting and the Bishop's Barbecue was Saturday at Gray Center. On a side note we also both needed haircuts sooo bad, so we got to see Kelly, too. Friday we went out on the boat with Aunt Sue, Uncle Billy, Tray and Lisa. We had such a great time. Does anyone else out there have changes with motion sickness? I used to have great balance and never had motion sickness. But while on the boat, if we weren't moving, I was kinda woozy. Strange.
The BBBQ was Saturday and it was so awesome to see everyone there. Also weird to not have to do anything for it! For the past three years, I was busy getting ready for camp and running around crazy. But this year it was nice to just be a guest. Jason and Buddy's camp session will be here soon at the end of June, it won't be too long before we get to go back.

Delicious cheesy roast beef sandwiches on the boat.

Sweet dadoo!

Old Glory

Me and Amber at the BBBQ!

Just because he's cute.

Puppy drama

2011-05-28T20:17:00.001-05:00

Mr. Big lost a claw. We were on our way to Madison for the weekend when tragedy struck. Thank goodness we were at the vet getting his regular medicine anyway. He was in the car with Jason and got his claw stuck in the cup holder. Yowza! He's limping a little bit two days later, but seems to be okay. Aunt Sue says it probably won't grow back. So now he only has three claws on the left paw, if don't you count the thumb claw, and who does, really?

Explains a lot

2011-05-28T19:46:00.000-05:00

I'm from Target. The best kitties come from Target.

Rowr!

While we were on vacation...

2011-05-16T19:41:00.004-05:00

...sweet Mom and Dad kept the animals. That means that Sherman and Fred, their cat, got to hang out all week. They love each other so much and have the best time playing. In fact, it's all Sherman talked about once we got back. Here's a few action shots.

Frisky kitties

Whoa! Cat butt!

Vacation 2011!

2011-05-15T19:00:00.002-05:00

Destin was calling our names. Who are we to deny Destin? So we went. And we did absolutely nothing - it was wonderful. We read, hung out on the beach, I got burned on my knee only(stupid spray sunscreen!), we ate out and even exercised most days. Lovely.
Here's a pic of us each while out.

Jason at Dewey Destin's

Sarah listening to the worst island combo everrrr

Honestly, we forgot to take pictures most of the time were so lazy. But very nice indeed. For those interested, first night we went to Dewey Destin's(delicious crab claws and shrimp). Second night we went to Harbor Docks, where we had THIS:

I was in heaven. Third night we met up with the Flowers' from Clarksdale and went to Vintij. Oh my gosh, so wonderful. Then on the last night we were in for a real treat: we were invited to Bree's parents'! The live in Sandestin. Ms. Kathy made us delicious pizza and after supper, Mr. George drove us around Baytowne in the golf cart. We even got to see Emeril's house. We missed Bree and Jay, they should have been there!

Easter Baskets

2011-05-01T14:18:00.000-05:00

This year the Easter bunny knew that we desperately needed outdoor furniture, and delivered in spades. The Rectory has a beautiful screened-in back porch that we love to sit on, except there was no where to sit! Thanks, Easter Bunny! We love sitting outside now that it's finally staying warm for a while.

Even the puppy likes them

It's a kitty miracle.

2011-04-30T15:21:00.000-05:00

This picture is not photoshopped. Your eyes are not deceiving you. The kitty IS sitting in my lap. No, I did not put him there. He. Came. Over. And. Sat. In. My lap. I couldn't believe it. He actually sat there letting me pet him while I was on the computer for about 10 minutes. Of course, as soon as Jason got the camera, he decided to get up. This picture is just as he was hopping down.

"No photos, dad! I'm leaving!"

It almost felt like when he was baby kitty and he'd sleep in my lap. Of course that all stopped once he got to his kitty teenage years. Nice to know he actually likes us. A little bit.

He Is Risen!

2011-04-26T20:49:00.000-05:00

Finally, Easter came! It's been a long Lent and we were so glad to be celebrating our first Easter here. Mom and Dad even came up for the weekend. Friday night we went to Madidi for a delicious supper. Saturday we just totally relaxed, it was so nice. Saturday we acquainted them with the best friend shrimp ever at Ramon's - they agreed, it really is that good! Sunday was amazing. The service was awesome and I was so proud of Jason for rocking his first ever Easter solo! After the service we changed and went over to the Roberts' for a delicious lunch. Mom made awesome corn pudding and grape salad. We brought delicious honeybaked ham that we received as a gift from Christmas. The thing was huge! I was glad to finally have a place to serve it, but we'll be eating ham for days.

Look at my precious parents! Miss them!

The puppy loves the sunshine!

Isn't he cute in his khaki suit? And I rhyme.

Dad and Jason at the Roberts'.

I'm so looking forward to our next adventure...vacation in May! Stay tuned.

Mr. Big's new friend

2011-04-20T11:49:00.000-05:00

We had our friends Mary Grace and Brennan over last night for supper - and they brought little Reed! Reed is five months old and sooo precious. I was a little concerned over how Mr. Big would "take" to the baby. He's never really been around one. But he was good and they even kinda sorta played a little.

This is my ball, Reed.


But you may play with it.

It only got a little dicey when Reed, who is still learning to sit up, almost fell over right on top of Mr. Big! Mr. Big was startled and growled and backed away, but didn't snap. We all decided we would have been startled too.

Our little guys

2011-04-19T15:06:00.000-05:00

Sherman is declawed so he can't go outside. But every once in a while I lock the screen door and let him sit on the porch with me. He loves it. He especially loves taunting the puppy.

I'm not lettin' you in, Mr Big

Stop lookin' at me


Puppy looking for crumbs

Mah Jongg!

2011-04-11T19:47:00.000-05:00

I've learned a new game. Mah Jongg! It's much different from what I used to play on the computer, although it still has tiles. It's like poker with tiles and many many more hands to make. The first few times I played, I won and made money! But then I kinda got cocky and lost a bunch. But this week, I was back! This was one of my awesome winning hands. Look at all those Jokers!

Just another thing to pique my competitive nature, I guess. But so much fun! Several groups play here in Clarksdale. I've told them to count me in whenever. And we play with change so no big deal.

Worst Mom Ever.

2011-02-03T17:41:00.004-06:00

SNOW!

2011-01-31T16:22:00.002-06:00

Yes, really. Lots of snow. Like, never seen this much snow in my life, snow. It snowed twice this year, one time much heavier than the second. And here you go:

Little did Mr. Big know the hazardous terrain that awaited him.

Poor guy could barely potty!

The next morning.

Clarksdale Christmas

2010-12-28T16:03:00.002-06:00

Time for our first Christmas in Clarksdale! Mom and Dad came up and spent the weekend. It was so nice having them here. We had so many parties to go to! We went to the Howell's, the Tyner's and the Humber's. Whew! We had such a nice laid-back time. We didn't plan too much and just took it easy. The only thing we did on Christmas Day was open presents, give Mr. Big a bath, and made dinner. I made Coq Au Vin from an awesome recipe of Alton Brown's.

Me and Mom before Christmas Eve parties and Midnight Mass

Mr. Big loves to help open presents

Dad and his new kite! It's huge!

Mr. Big and Honey helping me cook. Also modeling my new kitchen rug I got for Christmas

Coq Au Vin. Jason said it was Kurt Henke-ready!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-30T15:53:00.003-06:00

We stayed in Mississippi this year for Thanksgiving! We missed being in Indiana(our usual T-day spot) but since we'd been up there twice already this year and having just moved, we decided to stay close to home. Here are a few pics.

Mmmm delicious food.

Sweet Aunt Sue and Jason

Celebration of a New Ministry

2010-09-30T15:45:00.000-05:00

Bishop Gray came to install? dedicate? whatever. It was Jason's Celebration of a New Ministry!You may not can tell from the photo, but it is a really special service. Different items, such as keys to the church, the sacraments, vestments, etc are all presented to Jason as a way to officially mark the beginning of his ministry. There was also a fantastic reception afterwards in the parish hall. Everyone has made such a fuss over us, it was a really special evening. I'm so proud of my Jason!

Brooks!

2010-09-11T15:38:00.001-05:00

We went to Tupelo to see baby Brooks! Christie and Justin are in the habit of making some pretty gorgeous babies, and here's the evidence:

Betsy's Wedding!

2010-08-10T16:27:00.000-05:00

So just as we're getting settled in Clarksdale, it's time for a road trip! Jason's sister Betsy and Aaron got married August 7th. We traveled to Indiana and stayed with Jason's Aunt Susan.

One of Aunt Susan's chickens!

We had so much fun! Anytime we go to Indiana, for whatever reason, it's always a kind of family reunion since we hardly get to see them. This time was no exception. Having a wedding was even better. And we're so happy for Betsy and Aaron. Here's a few pics!

Moving in!

2010-07-22T16:01:00.000-05:00

We moved to Clarksdale in July. Look at our beautiful house! This is the St. George's Rectory, which we got to help pick out. How about that for luck?! Practically as soon as we arrived we were inundated with folks arriving with casseroles, coolers full of drinks, and many cards and well wishes. We've never felt so welcomed. We cannot wait to start our new life here, amongst these wonderful people!

Jason's last Sunday

2010-07-18T18:21:00.007-05:00

What a wonderful day we had today! Everyone at St. Columb's made us feel so loved by throwing us an awesome reception after the 10:30 service. I'll post more pics as I get them, but watch Christy's sweet Toast at the reception. In the beginning, she was talking about remembering back to almost 2 years ago at our wedding. After we were married, everyone gathered in the narthex and toasted us as we began our life together, and they wanted to do the same again.

Recent puppy.

2010-07-14T15:36:00.002-05:00

We recently acquired a puppy carseat, so he could see out the window. He used to run all over the car which was very unsafe. Now he's sitting pretty, er, handsome.

Mr. Big took a rest from playing ball, his favorite game. Whatever works for a pillow, I guess!

July 4th

2010-07-05T20:28:00.000-05:00

Hi there,
Just wanted to share a few pictures from July 4th. We were at church of course, where there was lunch and the annual kid's parade. We went to Robin's later...those pics are censored. :) Don't you love Jason's shirt? He bought it especially.

What a year!

2010-06-24T16:15:00.005-05:00

It has been since February 12th that we last posted. But I assure you our life has been anything but boring. We have had so much going on with us lately. Some of it didn't much make sense, but now we are really living into God's will for us.So in April, after not feeling well for a long time and much thought, I cut back to part-time at Camp. My DBA had just gradually been getting harder and harder to deal with, so we finally took the step to apply for Disability. As it happens, I just found out yesterday that I was approved! Amazing since you usually get denied your first time and then have to get a lawyer, go to court, etc. Like my mom said, I guess I really am disabled! This will make life so much easier, to know that, if I like, I can work at a schedule that is good for me, and not full time anymore.

In May, we went to Indiana for little Betsy's graduation! We had a great time, and it was so neat to see her finish after all her hard work. I know she was so glad to be done! I remember those days...

Betsy graduates from St. Francis!

As soon as we got back from Indiana, we got some pretty rough news: St. Columb's was not going to be able to employ Jason after December. Wow. We thoroughly flipped out for a while until we realized that even though this wasn't on our time, what a great opportunity this could be! We looked all over at first: Alabama, Florida, we even briefly considered putting his name into a search process in California! In the end, we decided to start with what was available in Mississippi and just see how that went. Well, it went great: Jason has accepted a call to be the Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in Clarksdale!

The Crossroads in Clarksdale, MS

We are so excited. All the people there are just wonderful, and Clarksdale looks to be such a neat little town. It will be an adjustment to small-town living, but we are so ready for it. Jason's last Sunday at St. Columb's is July 18th.

Bree got married in May, and what a beautiful bride she was! We had such an amazing time.

Bree and Jay's photographer is Amanda Suanne, check her out! She's amazing.

Sarah and Nikki at Bree's wedding!

Also, Katie had to move back home to Indiana. It was sad to see her go, but we know she's glad to be closer to home. Plus, we get to see everyone soon when Betsy gets married in August! Like I said, what a year!

Happy Birthday to Bobbie from Snowy MS!

2010-02-12T10:08:00.000-06:00

Tablescapes

2010-01-31T10:19:00.000-06:00

At St. Columb's recently we had a fundraising event for our Altar Kneeler Guild. The AKG is a group of ladies putting together the kneelers for the altar in our new church. We've also sold cookbooks and this Tablescapes event is the most recent push in our effort to get these kneelers going!
This was how it worked: a group or individual used a theme and put together a table corresponding to the theme. Then we sold tickets and had a supper along with a program by Jill Connor Brown, THE Sweet Potato Queen. It was so much fun, putting our table together and the event itself!

My friends Mary Margaret, Betty Jo and I did a Twilight table! Even Edward was there to join the fun! :) Jason, Andre and Jim did a Pirate table and WON!

The winning table and a bunch of scurvy knaves!

Our beautiful Twilight table! I was so proud!

Edward and the girls!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T10:13:00.002-06:00

Some pics from Christmas! So obviously these are late going up, but wanted to share anyway. The kids got some toys as you can see. I got sick on Christmas Eve! But we had a wonderful holiday overall. Plus, Jason and I got Beatles Rock Band!

Sherman got a Laser.

Mr. Big got a ball-bone and some treats!

Fall Wreath

2009-11-08T13:45:00.003-06:00

I wanted to show off just a little bit - please indulge me. I wanted a pretty fall-ish wreath for the door, but didn't want to pay for one I only felt so-so about. So my friend Elizabeth helped me make this one! I love everything about it and the materials cost less than buying one.

Oxford!

2009-10-22T16:47:00.006-05:00

Yes, that's Jason on a cottonpicker. Thanks to Brett, Jason has a new hobby...picking cotton. Jason's never been to Oxford...until now! We went for the Alabama game and to also see David Sedaris. Thank God we didn't have tickets for the game - it was plenty awful from the Grove. Speaking of the Grove, Jason loved it. I think he and Katie thought they knew about college football tailgating until they finally saw it. It was packed! We hung out with my former roommate Kate and her husband Brett - it was so good to see her again, she even put us up for the night! David Sedaris was wonderful, too. He is absolutely hilarious! Here's some pictures form our adventure.

Me and Katie

Me and Jason

Me and Kate! Thanks for keeping us!

Sherman Snuggles

2009-10-13T10:45:00.002-05:00

As soon as Mr. Big realized he was that close he moved to the other end of the couch.

Braised Pork Shoulder

2009-10-06T10:09:00.000-05:00

Hey all! Here's a delicious new recipe that I adapted from Food Network's Melissa D'Arabian's Succulent Braised Pork. It is so fine, and the cut of meat is really cheap - about $2 per pound. It's from a pork shoulder. The recipe calls for 2 lbs, but we were only able to find an 8 lb cut. So we just froze the rest...I've already made this twice since finding it! Starting it on the stove and then letting it groove in the oven for three hours makes this recipe easy and so flavorful. Here are your ingredients:

2 lbs. of pork shoulder, cut into 4 or 5 chunks
1 large yellow onion
3 or 4 carrots
2 stalks celery
few cloves of garlic(or I used the jarred minced kind)
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 Tablespoons flour
1-1 1/2 cups red wine(I use Rosemount Shiraz)
1/2 - 1 cup beef stock
2 bay leaves
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Start by patting the pork chunks dry and seasoning with salt and pepper. You'll need a braiser or any heavy pot with a lid. Heat it over medium heat. Brown the pork on all sides in a few tablespoons of olive oil.

Who doesn't love pork fat?

While the pork is browning, chop your onions, carrots and celery. 1 1/2 inch chunks work great for onions and carrots(that way they wont disintegrate), thin slices for the celery, but whatever you want! Remove pork and set aside. Add your vegetables and cook down for 7 minutes or until softened a bit. Add your garlic and stir. Then add your tomato paste and stir - you'll need to help it groove in the pot as it's really thick. When the tomato paste has incorporated, sprinkle the flour all around the pan. Stir and cook for a few minutes, basically until you can't see white anymore. Everything will seem really dry and sticky.

After tomato paste and flour

Now add the wine. I love Rosemount Shiraz and it works really well with this. But use whatever red wine you like. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan, getting up all the pork bits from earlier. Let this cook until the sauce really thickens up, reducing by about half. Add your bay leaves, pork, and enough beef stock to come up to almost the top of the pork pieces. Don't cover the pork, though. Put the lid on and cook in the oven at 325 degrees for 3 hours. When it comes out, you'll need to use tongs to pick up the pork, it just falls apart! Season with more salt and pepper, if you like and serve.

Final product. Those are beer bread muffins in the background. Jealous?

Life with two kids...

2009-09-25T10:14:00.008-05:00

Hopefully they'll cuddle soon...

Finally, an update! New addition!

2009-09-22T10:13:00.003-05:00

Hello Blog world, the Shelby's apologize for not updating sooner! I had an extremely busy summer. Also, as soon as summer was over, I had a minor surgery of a female nature. Nothing serious, just very glad it's out of the way and feeling much better. Jason is full steam ahead with church programming, which is awesome! And we have a new addition to our house!We got this sweet little kitty over the weekend. For a whole day or so we thought it was a girl. But when we took him to our vet, he confirmed it was a BOY. Oops. Still trying to decide on a name for him. He's super playful, of course, and a great snuggler already. He also goes right to the potty box like a good boy.
Mr. Big is a little nervous around him, but is doing better all the time. I actually had to take him to the vet today, too - turns out he's got a touch of bronchitis. Bless his heart! Here's a pic of him meeting the new kitty.

White Sangria

2009-07-03T09:23:00.003-05:00

Want a delicious, fruity light summer treat? Do you also need a toddy? I've got just the thing. White Sangria is my favorite summertime cocktail. It's also one of those that is easily customizable, depending on what they have in the produce section. The only definite ingredients are white wine, brandy, and sprite. You can even pick what kind of white wine you like! The best part is that you freeze the blueberries or grapes, and they act as ice cubes to both flavor the drink and keep it cooool. Try it, but use what you like.

One 750ml bottle of white wine(I usually use chardonnay)
One liter(that's half of a 2-liter, people!) of Sprite or 7-up
1/2 cup of brandy
1 apple, cored and sliced
1 peach, pitted and sliced
several handfuls of blueberries or grapes, frozen

Stir everything together in a pretty pitcher(mine is 84oz.) and let set in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Then add the frozen blueberries or grapes right before serving. If you don't like apples or peaches try limes, lemons, oranges, or any other fruit really. Enjoy! This stuff will go fast.

Mr. Big is a Posh Puppy!

2009-06-26T17:19:00.004-05:00

Hi all,
Here are some shots of Mr. Big in his new collar! As you can see, this isn't any ole' collar. This is an original by my friend Ashley Lamm Rogers and her crazy creativity. Ashley and I were AOII's together and she's started her own line of fun apparel for kids and now dogs. Not to mention she's an amazing graphic artist. When I saw these, I knew I had to have one. Check out her site and get you some! Thanks Lamm!

Goat Cheese and Balsamic Bruschetta

2009-06-15T09:59:00.016-05:00

Think about it: it's on every Italian restaurant menu, most cookbooks have a variation of this, and at parties you always eat the last one - okay, fine, maybe that's just me. This is something I feel everyone should know how to make. Once you do, you can use anything you want on it. It is so simple but the flavors and the colors make it look so elegant. What really "makes" this dish for me is the Balsamic Vinegar Reduction. It really pulls all the flavors together and adds a tangy sweetness. I really could eat these 3 times a week. Plus, all 4 food groups! Psh - like I care. Try them, but throw whatever you want on them – then invite me over!

Olive Oil
1/2 of a French Baguette
4 Roma Tomatoes
Basil Leaves(4 or 5)
Salt and Pepper
2 cloves Minced Garlic
2 oz. crumbled goat cheese
3/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar

Start by slicing the bread into about ¼ inch thick slices; I do mine sort-of diagonally. Place on a baking sheet and brush them with some olive oil. I use my preheated stoneware. Put into a 350 degree preheated oven, just long enough to toast them, maybe 10 mins. While the bread slices toast, slice each roma tomato in half and gently squeeze each half over the sink to get most of the seeds out. Finish chopping the tomatoes and put them into a medium bowl with the minced garlic and enough olive oil to coat. Here’s where you use however much chopped basil and salt and pepper that you like. Stir well and set aside(you can even make the tomato mixture the night before and refrigerate). Put the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar. Over medium heat, let the vinegar simmer and reduce by half. When it cools a bit it will be thicker, like a glaze.

When the bread slices come out of the oven, put a few goat cheese crumbles on each one. The heat will help you spread the cheese around a bit. Then divide the tomato mixture over all the bread slices, making sure every one gets some. Drizzle with the balsamic glaze and serve.

Roma Tomatoes really make a difference...

...after the goat cheese has been spread.

Lemon Blueberry Bread

2009-06-11T19:18:00.009-05:00

I know. This will look like every other person in America who really likes to cook - so they make something, take pictures of it, and then blog about it. Don't care. Work has been super-stressful lately(it's CAMP time!) so I need some sort of outlet. This it it:
I happened to be commenting on facebook on the different things I was making for supper, etc, and I had the request to share recipes. So here we go. I must say now that these are NOT my own recipes. However, I am not completely hijacking the recipes that I Google. If you've ever been around me when I cook, you know that I almost never follow the recipe entirely. So I will henceforth attempt to tell you simply just about the things that I cook. Try it, don't try it, whatevs. It's just something I like to do.
And now for the Lemon Blueberry Bread.

1 cup blueberries
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest(about 1 1/2 lemons)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I used my Pampered Chef Mini Loaf Stonware pan. Thanks Amber! It makes 4 mini-loaves, 2 medium, or 1 big loaf.
Sprinkle the blueberries with a bit of water and then toss with a spoonful of flour; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Add vanilla, then mix in the lemon zest. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture alternately with the milk. Put a good spoonful or two of the batter, sans blueberries into the pan(s). Fold in the blueberries. Pour rest of batter into your loaf pan(s).
Bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes(50 to 60 minutes if you're using the bigger loaf pans), until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow bread to cool for a few minutes.
If you want(and I do!), whisk up a quick glaze from 1/4 cup of lemon juice(about 1 lemon) and 3/4 cup of powdered sugar. It helps to heat the lemon juice slightly before adding sugar. Pour all over loaves while still hot in the pans.

A great friend has a bunch of blueberry bushes and sent me home with about 2 quarts! They are just beautiful, and so delicious. They were the inspiration for this particular recipe. Be sure to let me know if you try it, and how it worked for you!

Gorgeous little blue bundles of heaven.

Before the glaze...aren't they pretty and light?

St. Columb's Mens BBQ

2009-04-26T17:29:00.006-05:00

Hi all! We had our annual Chicken Barbecue, put on by the mens' club at church every year around this time. It was fantastic! It seems like every year it's rainy, cold, and not very barbecue-feeling. Ish.
But this year the weather was perfect and we had a great time! Jason and Dad were at it all day long.As "men" it was kinda all them! We also had a moon-jump for the kids and bake sale and silent auction. I wound up with the winning bid on a Twilight prize package: a Twilight tote-bag, a Twilight book, and two bottles of wine! Nice! A very special shout-out to Mom today - it's her birthday! Happy Birthday M! Here's one of us from the BBQ. We're so presh. ;)Hope everyone had a great weekend, I'm so excited that summer's almost here! Ish. :/

Easter with the Shelby's!

2009-04-18T19:58:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to post a few pictures from Easter - Jason's mom and dad and sister, Katie came all the way from Indiana to visit. It was so great to have them here with us. They even got to see Jason "in action" at church for the very first time!

Completed living room

2009-04-04T09:27:00.000-05:00

We had a Pampered Chef Party last Thursday, hosted by our beautiful and wonderful friend Amber, so we finally had to get the living room and kitchen in some semblance of completeness! Here are a few pics. I just love our house and feel so blessed to have it.Living room, from the front door.

Living room, from the kitchen. Curtains are coming this week. ;)

Kitchen keeping room, from the living room.

Bless Mr. Big's heart, literally!

2009-03-17T18:35:00.003-05:00

He had another seizure this morning. He was outside with Jason and all of a sudden he just sat down and kinda fell over. It was awful. He was just all tense and rigid, and his ears were way back. We just held him and told him he was a good boy, and he gradually came out of it. We called Dr. L, our fantastic vet and he wanted to listen to his heart again. He said it was murmuring, so he raised his dose of the heart medicine that he takes. Now, he recently had us lower it because he seemed to be doing better. So it sounds to me like it's definitely his heart. As for Mr. Big, I don't think he even realizes it's happening, which is good. After a while, he just kinda starts running around again. We'll see how he does with more medicine.

Mr. Big got "Stuck"

2009-03-13T18:30:00.001-05:00

Hilarious. He got a sticker stuck on his paw. Silly puppy.

Diamond Blackfan Anemia

2009-03-12T13:57:00.004-05:00

I am completely blown away. I have recently discovered a new website dedicated to my disorder. www.dbafoundation.org For years, if I wanted to know something about DBA(other than what was happening to me) I had to pore over obscure medical references in books. Even when the Internet got big, there was never anything like an information site or anything. When I would meet a new doctor, more than once he or she would comment that all they new about DBA was the two-sentence description in one med school textbook. And now, what a blessing. Now, when some poor mother and father can't figure out what's wrong with their child, why they have low blood counts and need transfusions, and all the other things that come with having DBA, they can go to this site and get straight-foward explanations about the reality of this disorder. The people who created this website even have a facebook group for it. I'll say it again, I'm completely blown away. Anyone who reads this, please visit the site, join the facebook group, learn and donate. I wish my parents would've had all these resources when I was young. Thanks again, Mom and Dad. Love you.

Betsy and Aaron are here! And Vicksburg!

2009-03-07T17:12:00.004-06:00

Hey! Betsy and Aaron(Jason's sister and her fiance') are here from Indiana! They're on Spring Break, so they're staying with us for about a week and we're sooo excited to have them. They got here last night. Today we went to Vicksburg for a tour of the Civil War Military Park there. Our good friend from church, Jim Woodrick led the tour. It was really nice. I haven't been to the park since I was little bitty, and having Jim's knowledge on-hand was great. He works for the MS State Archives. Anyway, we had fun, and Jason is now at church getting ready for a service tonight and the rest of us are resting! Here are just a few pics from our day.

Jason's Birthday!

2009-03-01T19:43:00.000-06:00

We had a little party for Jason last night, at my mom's house. Also, it snowed on Jason's birthday! I like to think it was in his honor, being a Yankee. Haha, just kidding, honey! Here's a picture of the little bit of snow that accumulated on the deck last night, although it was gone by mid-day.Here's also a picture of something I got for Jason for his birthday. There's this really neat little art gallery on the square in Canton. I sent the owner some pictures of the All Saints' Chapel at Sewanee(where Jason went to Seminary), and she was able to create the most beautiful painting. Jason absolutely loved it, and I was so excited that I got to surprise him. I think we'll put it in the kitchen.

Cabinets!

2009-02-28T16:15:00.002-06:00

While we were at St. Jude's, we had a guy come and work on our kitchen cabinets, which we decided to have painted white. It was one of the first things I noticed about the house - they needed to be white! Well, when we got back they were all finished, and we LOVE them! Here are some "before and after's" to give your some perspective.

St. Jude Visit - Day 2

2009-02-27T14:10:00.008-06:00

Hi there again,
Today has been okay. I was late to some of my appointments because the ladies in the lab were running way behind. That, and they had to take a ton of bloodwork. We met with my doctors, and my favorite on, Dr. Wang was there. I haven't seen him in a few years, he is so cool. He's always hopping continents going to these big important research conferences. He said last month he was in Benin(sp?) which is in Nigeria for a conference on Sickle Cell Anemia. Wow! And he's MY doc!
Being a patient at St. Jude, you're a patient for life. But what happens when you're almost 30 years old and doing reasonably well? It's a question we'll probably have to face one day. As blessed as we are and as well as I'm doing, I still greatly depend on St. Jude for many things. Extremely expensive medications, for one. Additionally, they follow me, keep up with my health and how my organs are functioning. With my anemia, and consequently the Iron Overload that comes with it, it's important that I'm kept track of. I don't know what will happen, but there may come a day when I can't be followed here anymore. It absolutely breaks my heart. At the same time, it makes me feel so guilty, because there are far sicker little ones than me. And then it scares me. It scares me because we can't afford the $70,000 per year of a particular medication that I take - and that's just ONE! I'm on a few. I guess there was just never a plan for what to do with the kids they treat, when they grow up and end up living and doing really well, but still need to be followed and treated.
In the meantime, I still love being here. The above are pictures of a mural(actually two pictures, it's too big to fit into one!) that's in the room I'm sitting in right now. And a picture of my sweet husband who's always there for me.

St. Jude Visit

2009-02-26T12:18:00.011-06:00

Hi all,
Here we are in Memphis at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. I come here once a year to get checked out, and boy do they do some checkin'. They usually take TONS of bloodwork and run lots of tests on me. So far I've had eye and ear tests. This is because the medicine that I take for Iron Overload, Exjade, can damage your eyes and other organs as well. But usually this is due to very high doses, which thankfully I'm on a relatively small dose. Anyhoo, here's a pic of my dilated eyes, which totally freak me out.

Also, here's some pics of St. Jude, isn't it just gorgeous? It amazes me every year I come here just how much things change. But change is good in a place like this. It means that more donations and endowments are continually making this place always on the cutting edge. It also means the biggest aquarium and non-freestanding Starbucks I've ever seen.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Slowly but surely...

2009-02-22T15:07:00.004-06:00

...we're making progress! We painted the master bedroom, as previously reported, but here are some pictures. Mr. Big loves the new color, as you can see.Also, we're having a guy come and paint the kitchen cabinets this week - cannot WAIT for that to be done. It's frustrating because there are so many things that have had to get done that are not exactly cosmetic. For starters, we just now got the dryer working right. Don't ask me, I think is was a vent/hose issue. So now we can do laundry. Also, the attic stairs were not installed correctly so we haven't been able to really get up there to put stuff away. Plus, once we finally were able to get up there, we found out that there was tons of stuff left from previous tenants! Gross! There was old bedding, a computer, a microwave, old kids toys, etc. But nothing even e-Bay worthy!
Hopefully our bed will be delivered this week, too. I'm hoping to get as much squared away as possible, because Betsy(Jason's sister) and Aaron are coming to stay with us for Spring Break! So excited to have them come down. I love Spring! So busy and so much going on!

Busy, busy!

2009-02-03T21:49:00.001-06:00

We finally closed and moved in! Friday we signed what seemed like a ton of paperwork and we went straight over to the house. Mom even brought Mr. Big so he could check it out. Then Saturday some of our wonderful friends came early and helped us move everything in! It was not so bad, the only glitch was the dryer vent didn't exactly fit the pipe that's in the house. But Dad came over Monday night and got that sorted out for us. Now we're superexcited to begin painting and putting up all our clothes and stuff. We hung a few pictures up immediately to help make it seem like home, but we still have a lot to do!
We went tonight and bought paint for the bedroom, which is the top priority because we need to get it done before our new bed comes in. It's a pretty light green color. I'll post pics when we get it done. Hopefully we can work on it some Thursday night because Council is this weekend in Hattiesburg. It should be fun, but we sure do lead a busy life right now!
Thanks to everyone for asking about Mr. Big, he is much better. Dr. L put him on some heart medication as well as some anti-convulsives. He hasn't had another episode! Dr. L wants to see him back in a week or so and then he may take him off the puppy barbituates. I think it had a lot to do with the stress level in our house due to packing and moving, which I'm sorry to say was pretty elevated. But hopefully we can get all settled before too long!

This is the week!

2009-01-26T20:15:00.002-06:00

We had the final walk-through of the house tonight, everything looked great! We are so excited. And here's a big pic of the front for everyone, since I seem to have gotten shots of everything else except the front! Isn't it precious?! The sellers completely took out the awful built-ins, and they did an amazing job. You can't even tell they were there! We close on Friday, and move on Saturday. Good timing, seeing as how the last day in the apartment is also Saturday! Anyone want to help move? ;)
Also, please everyone say a little prayer for our little guy, Mr. Big. We think he had a couple of seizures this weekend. It was so scary! They only lasted a few minutes and he was fine afterwards. But we took him to the Vet today and he said that he was having a little bit of an irregular heartbeat. I wonder if it's stress-related, since the house is half-packed up and we're getting ready to move? Dr. L gave us some medicine, so let's hope this takes care of him.

More House...

2009-01-12T21:23:00.000-06:00

Here's some more photos of the house. Specifically the kitchen and living room (the brown cabinets will be painted white), and of some crazy built-ins in the living room. The current owner says they came with the house when they bought it as an investment property. Aren't they weird? It's like they built them to fit exactly their stuff. No doors, nothing. Anyway, the current owners are getting rid of them, which is awesome! Enjoy! Let us know what you think!

HOUSE!

2009-01-05T20:09:00.003-06:00

We have a contract on a house! The seller of Fourteen Peppermill Drive(see below video) accepted our offer and assuming a smooth closing, etc, we'll be homeowners! We're already having so much fun looking at furniture and paint swatches. It needs a bit of paint, but we ain't scared! What is scary: we have to pack up this entire apartment in about two weeks!

14 Peppermill Drive

2009-01-03T16:17:00.003-06:00

Hi all -
So the other house we looked at fell through. But it's okay because we found a house that we both think is much more "us." Have a look. It needs some cosmetic stuff(mostly paint), but the price is definitely right!

Look what we found!

2008-12-31T10:52:00.002-06:00

Here is a video of a house that we found last night that we LOVE! We'll keep you updated, but we're hoping to make an offer soon!
VIDEO DELETED DUE TO STUPID AGENT WHO DIDN'T EVEN COUNTER-OFFER, BUT ACCEPTED OFFER AFTER OURS. We're not bitter, though. :)

Scarfs, or Scarves?

2008-12-28T13:36:00.006-06:00

Now that Christmas presents have been opened, I wanted to share a few things I knitted this year for friends and family. Katie loves Harry Potter(she's gotten me into it, too!), so I knitted her a Gryffindor scarf. I also knitted these spiral-y ones for Betsy, Stephanie, Lisa and Aunt Sue. It's a great pattern and easy. Email me if you'd like to try it: And of course, I didn't want Mr. Big to feel left out.

Home for the Holidays...and after!

2008-12-23T19:29:00.005-06:00

We're already enjoying Christmas here at our house! Jason came home with probably the sweetest Wedding/Christmas gift ever: It's an ornament of us and our wedding party! You can see everyone on it! Bree, Christie, Walton, Ben and Josh. It even looks like my dress! Special thanks to the Giffords for my new favorite ornament!
Also, I couldn't resist posting a picture of the cutest puppy ever. He loves sitting under the tree! I think he likes the soft material of our tree skirt. He goes under there every so often to check things out and hang out. He thinks he's a present. And he is, kinda! Jason and I are gearing up for Christmas goings-on, we're going to Mom's tomorrow for soup at lunch. Then Jason will be very busy, doing three services in less than 24 hours! But he loves being at St. Columb's, especially since we got the news last week: He gets promoted to full-time! We are SO excited, that means we get to really settle down here - for a few years, anyway! We've been praying for some stability(preferably HERE!) for so long. It's so relieving to know that we can look for a house, and not wonder where we'll be! And Jason is so happy with the work he's doing there.
Merry Christmas, everyone! We love you!

O Tannenbaum!

2008-12-15T20:54:00.006-06:00

We have a beautiful(although temporary) home, a sweet puppy, wonderful parents and friends, and each other. *sniff*
Okay, that's enough of that. But how can you not be sentimental like that when you look at this amazing Christmas Tree? We almost didn't do one this year, but I'm so glad we did. It's our first Christmas as marrieds, and that's really something. Mom and Dad came over and helped us decorate. We had lasagna in honor of Jason's Dad(lasagna is his favorite "birthday meal"), who's birthday is on the 22nd. Jason even assembled dinner, good job, honey!
I've been thinking alot lately about the whole Advent Conspiracy movement and what it means in our life. Especially in these hard economic times, it's so important that we realize that it's within each other that we find(and give!) our gifts. It's so true that useless gifts, too many gifts detract from the real reason we celebrate in the first place.
But then I look at our beautiful tree. And I am secretly comforted by these sweet symbols. So, do your part: do spend less, do make something instead of buying, do donate to those who have less than you do. But embrace what is special to you. We do, in the blessed Advent, and we prepare.

Snow in Mississippi!

2008-12-11T10:52:00.006-06:00

Hello all,
Just writing to say that it's snowing! This is mainly for the Indiana Shelby's. I guess I'm kinda hoping to impress y'all a little bit. This is the view from our apartment balcony. Crazy, right? Even though it is snowing, we don't handle it nearly as well as y'all do....different businesses are shutting down, etc. And I'm absolutely positive that there is no milk or bread left in any grocery store. I myself am working from home today, and forgoing the 30 min, mostly interstate drive to work.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the picture, and hope everyone has a great day!
Love,
a very chilly Sarah

"Advent means Christ is near, Christmas means Christ is here!"

2008-11-19T20:10:00.007-06:00

Hey there,
What a busy day today! I worked out(for the first time in MONTHS!), took out trash, cleaned the house a bit, but most exciting: bought supplies for Advent Wreath-making at church tonight. I love Advent so much. With all the commercialization of Christmas these days, it's easy to feel really guilty about getting ready for Christmas too early. I mean, the malls had trees up befpre Halloween! But Advent is a season of preparation, so it takes some of that guilt away, for me, anyway! :) So with that in mind, I love making/lighting the Advent Wreath, slowly starting to get Holiday decorations out, and making my annual Christmas CD(currently in progress).
But back to the wreaths: we had such a good time! It was pretty easy this year. In the past we've actually brought in real greenery, attached it to foam wreaths, attached long taper candles, etc. This year I found some super-cute fake greenery wreaths at Michaels, along with some great candles from quickcandles.com - great prices - and some seasonal ribbon. Mom and I just sort-of let people have at it and do up their wreaths however they wanted. I think they all turned out pretty great! Here's Mom making one:

I am SO ashamed.

2008-11-18T12:58:00.009-06:00

Hi all!
I cannot believe it has been so long since we've blogged. Let's just pretend that it didn't happen. The blogs we've posted since May somehow just disappeared! Argh! Anyway, we have been VERY busy since May. I had a summer full of Camp, Jason was hired at St. Columb's Ridgeland as Assistant Rector, Oh! And we got Married!! Life has been great!
It was such a beautiful wedding. Special thanks to everyone who came to it, and to our awesome reception which was held the next night.
Oh, and another reason to be ashamed? I'm just now getting to my thank-you notes!
Love,
Sarah (Shelby!)

Engagement Party!

2008-05-20T08:02:00.003-05:00

Sarah and I had our first engagement party on May 16, and it was amazing! Most of our nearest and dearest friends were there, and we all had a really good time. I think the only other time I've seen Sarah so excited was on Christmas Eve. Christie and Justin came down from Tupelo, Ben was there, and all our best friends from St. Columb's were there too. The food was good, there was plenty to drink, and I don't remember one lull in the conversation, from the time we got there to the time we left. Sarah and I received some marriage advice from Stephanie, some of which made me blush and look at the floor (since Sarah's parents were in the same room), and Robin held forth like I've never seen before, telling stories on Caroline and making everyone laugh. Bree and Jay were there, and they fit right in with all the St. Columb's folks, which is really great.

But the biggest event of the evening was this: I wore pink for the first time. And it was well received. Several fashion magazines were hand to take our picture, and it looks as though I have a modeling career ahead of me. Which is great, because I've always known that I'm handsome, but I couldn't quantify it. Now I can.

Empti-nest!

2008-04-29T21:06:00.004-05:00

I got home tonight, looked around and was so sad: Bree's gone! All of her "stuff" is gone - only her big furniture remains(the movers come Friday). I can't believe it's been 2 years since Mr. Big and I moved in with Bree and Hershey. It's been so fun - she's been there for me for all kinds of things - good and bad. And I know Mr. Big will miss Hershey. He went looking for him as soon as we walked through the door...
On the one hand, I'm so excited about Jason slowly moving his things in and making a home with him. But Bree's been so great, it's like the end of an era! I'll miss her so much. But Clinton isn't too far away for a good friend! Love you, Breeboo!

What a great weekend!

2008-04-28T10:48:00.004-05:00

Friday night Sarah and I had dinner with friends and got to see a brand new baby, which was awesome. We had great food, good beer, and we had fun talking to everyone. Saturday morning and early afternoon we helped out at the Men's Barbeque at St. Columb's, and I had a great time working with the guys and serving up chicken. That night I pan fried a steak and had stir fry vegetables, and it was fantastic. Sunday morning we got up early and went to Vicksburg and I supplied at Christ Church, one of the oldest churches I've ever been in. The people were really nice, and I celebrated facing the wall, which was something I've never done before. Afterwards some folks took us out to lunch, and then we went to the outlet mall and I found some pants and Sarah got some summer clothes. After that we went back to Jackson, and met up with the youth group to see our very own Josh play violin in the youth orchestra. I was so proud! Then we ordered some take out sushi, picked up Mr. Big, and settled in for the night. What a weekend!

He's so helpful!

2008-04-26T17:12:00.004-05:00

Awesome day today! We had the St. Columb's Mens' Barbeque today - Jason fell right in with the rest of the guys and was slingin' chicken with the best of them! After that, we went invitation shopping at Jodie Badon (www.jodiebadon.com), and then went to the Mall. We were in search of a suit for the wedding, and I was also looking for earrings for my sweet Bridesmaids. He is such a hot model!
But we're taking it easy tonight, having some supper and watching a movie.

Found a dress!

2008-04-16T18:42:00.003-05:00

Hi all,
I have a dress! and it is Gorgeous! On my last post, I said I'd post a picture from our weekend...well, that's not happening! Poor Jason would see! So everyone will have to wait. In the meantime, special thanks go out to my mom, Aunt Sue, and Christie for going with me to help pick it out. We had a BLAST! Anyone getting married should definitely visit Kay's in Tupelo(ask for Kim!).
In other news, Jason has been licensed to be a priest in the Diocese of Mississippi! So anyone needing a priest, let us know. Jason is still job-hunting; we're hopin'-and-prayin' that something opens up for him in Jackson. But if not, we know that we'll go where we're(both!) needed.
So Jason will be here Friday....won't be too much longer and he'll be here to stay! Can't wait!

Here we are again...

2008-04-11T10:06:00.005-05:00

...getting a transfusion. Although we are not want of things to do, because we just got our new computer! We got a Mac, and it arrived yesterday. Jason won't have his school-issued computer once he leaves St. Martin's in May, and my almost 10-year-old Laptop(2 1/2" thick! haha) crapped out completely last weekend. So we got a Mac. And it's awesome!

Big plans this weekend! Going to Tupelo to see Christie and Justin and little P-man. Tupelo, along with being the birthplace of Elvis, is home to a pretty sweet Bridal Shop. So off we go to try on wedding dresses! Yay! Very excited about this.

Jason's coming along, too. It turns out, the Griffins' are having a garage sale this weekend, and I have plenty of stuff to get rid of. So he and Justin will be manning the garage sale while Christie, Mom, Aunt Sue and I attempt to find dresses for ALL of us! Should be an adventure.

I'll be sure to post a pic or two on this posting when we return.

Even Mr. Big has an adventure waiting for him as well. We're putting him up for the night at a Puppy Hotel while we're gone to Tupelo. This may hardly seem news-worthy, but I've never boarded him before. So I am feeling a little nervous. But the place is super-cute and the owners are really nice. Plus, there was tons of paperwork to fill out about his temperament, vaccination records, etc, so that made me feel better. I mean, they get that on the other dogs, too! I'll definitely update everyone on how that went. Wish us luck!

Sarah

We have a date!

2008-04-05T17:48:00.004-05:00

Sarah and I will be getting married on October 3rd, 2008! This is just one day away from our 14 month-aversery, so it will be easy for me to remember. We are having the reception the day after, and it's going to be AWESOME! Music will be provided by the Rev. Walton Jones and whatever hooligans he can muster to play with him that day. Even if it's just him, he will totally rock the face off of everyone at the reception. Or rather, he could, if he wanted. But then everyone would leave without their face, and it would be this huge problem, and Sarah and I would be the couple that caused all kinds of face loosing mayhem, and we really don't want to start off that way. So...please don't worry about your face, it will not be rocked off. Though we can't vouch safe the safety of your socks.

Where are we registered, you ask? Well, I'm glad you did, because we are registered at a few places. First off we are registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond. All our plates, cheese graters, vacuum cleaners, bath towels, dust ruffles, and bobby pins are registered there. We are also registered at the Target, Williams Sonoma, and Belk. Now, you may be thinking to yourself that being two fairly religious people, we don't want or even expect to receive a lot of gifts. And we respect that you might think that way. But please, don't hesitate to get us lots of gifts. Because we both know that it's better to give than to receive, we want all our guests to have the pleasure of giving us something, no matter what it is, be it a 47" flat screen TV, or a cream pitcher that looks like a cow. You'll find that giving us gifts warms your heart and soul. And isn't that what it's all about?

ENGAGED!

2008-03-08T21:40:00.000-06:00

We both knew we would be married one day - well now it's official! Jason proposed to me Friday Night, March 7, 2008! Somehow her got me out to the church, in the midst of the snowing that was going on! We went to the church on the premise that he had to "pick up something". Well, we ended up walking in the Memorial Garden(I took him there on our first date). Then after basking in the beauty of the place in the snow, he asked me to marry him. WOW!
What a night! I'll never forget it. We immediately went to my parents(he called his) and the celebrations began! We decided not to start planning until at least the next day. We almost made it! We couldn't help it - SO EXCITED!

Christmas in Indiana

2007-12-26T10:49:00.001-06:00

Hi Everyone!

It has been quite a while since we've blogged, but not due to lack of goings-on! Jason and I went to Indiana for almost a week right before Christmas and had a great time hanging out with his family. There was SNOW! More snow than I've ever seen before! In fact, from the airplane, I though it was sand at first....

His dad's birthday was right around Christmas so we had a combined Christmas/Birthday dinner for him.

It was amazing to finally be able to see where he comes from and all the wonderful people he's always told me so much about. Not to mention, I arrived before he did, so I got a lot of embarrassing stories from Katie, Stephi, and Betsy, his sisters!

When we arrived back home, we both served at church for Christmas Eve services and then stayed with Mom and Dad. Santa came! We also got the chance to see the Dennis' and even Mandy was in town! Here's some photos. I know Jason agrees when we say we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and have a fantastic 2008!

Love,

Sarah and Jason

Thanksgiving Weekend

2007-11-24T17:31:00.000-06:00

Hi all! Jason came in on Tuesday for the Thanksgiving holiday! I was so glad to have such a nice long visit with him. Wednesday we went to Old Navy to buy poor Jason some clothes - all of his warm winter clothes are still in storage at Sewanee. Now he is so stylin'....new jeans and everything! After lunch and grocery store, we pretty much baked the rest of the day, then had supper with Nikki and Jamie.

Thursday was THE MEETING OF THE FAMILY! He did really well, even my Aunt Carol insisted he was a "keeper." I think the only thing he was nervous about was the minor outing that he took with my dad and uncle. They all had a tour of the property and I think he was a little concerned that he may end up in the bushes somewhere. But they brought him back safe, and he even snoozed on the couch a little bit.

Friday was spent shopping a bit in Canton with my mom and then we all went to the Gourley's to watch the Egg Bowl. I'm still so mad about it, so I wont even go there. All I can say is Good Riddance! (of Coach O) We got to spend Friday night with the David's, both at Pam and Dick's and at Ben and Barbara's.
It's still going on, but I'm always so surprised when our time together goes SO FAST! It' s here, then it's gone! Here's a pic of us on the whirlwind of a ride that is life. It's nice to slow down and just enjoy things, but it's hard when my sweetie is just never here! We want to go and do the million and one things that we don't get to do together. But I'm so thankful that I have him, on Thanksgiving especially. Maybe we can try the slowing-down thing at Christmas... ;)

Camp Weekend

2007-10-28T13:43:00.000-05:00

St. Columb's Camp weekend was the best, I mean the very, very bestest thing that ever happened in the world, it was amazing! I got to see M and there was all this food on the floor that people kept dropping, and all these smells, and it was like, I could smell other dogs but I couldn't see them, and then there were all these people there, and I was like, "Hey, don't touch me," or like, "Hey, you stay away from my mom! Hey you, yeah you, stay away from my mom!!!!" Did I mention all the food on the floor?! And sometimes Jason would give me food in secret, but I'm not supposed to tell anyone. I didn't have to wear a leash, and I wore my fav pink polo, it was pretty much the best weekend ever. Except when mama would lock me up in my puppy crate...I cried and cried and whined and even hollered, but she wouldn't come. So I would do math puzzles in my head while I waited. On the Mr. Big scale of one to ten, this weekend was totally an eleven!!!

Posted by Jason for Mr. Big, who is too important to type himself, but instead dictates all his personal correspondence.

My Birthday

2007-10-20T12:36:00.001-05:00

So it was really hard to have my birthday without Jason here - but fortunately he was here the very next day! We had supper at my parents house; I wanted breakfast and it was awesome - even my cake was Monkey Bread. It was Birthday Breakfast Extravaganza! Anyway, it was really nice to be around my family and Jason for my birthday - and it was the first time Jason met my cousins. I think he did pretty good! And I got some really sweet gifts.....

Even Mr. Big had a good time snuggling with my cousin Tray...

Jim and Pam for Eva'!

2007-10-13T23:00:00.000-05:00

It all started with three pieces of black paper, some fake eye lashes, and a tie from 1987. Upon being invited to a Halloween party, we instantly knew it was our calling to become Jim and Pam from the Office (see the second season, Halloween Episode). We felt we were the best dressed couple there, though the only votes we received were the ones we cast for ourselves. But we had a great time, and Caroline and Chris had some awesome food.

Bowling

2007-10-07T17:05:00.000-05:00

Let me just tell you how awesome Jason is: he goes bowling with me and my EYC. Even though we live in different towns and we don't get to see alot of each other, he knows that it's important to me and he just goes with the flow. So a-bowling we go! We took the kids to get ice cream and then bowling. And the best part: I busted my ass while throwing(because that's what I ended up doing) the ball. But nobody saw! It was perfect!

Also, we noticed that in addition to us, there were other faith-based groups at the bowling alley that day. There was a Korean Baptist group as well as some Black Muslims. We decided Sunday is definitely the day to go bowling if you love God.

One of my kids took this picture and I thought it was cute:

Time for blood

2007-10-06T09:48:00.000-05:00

So today is the second time I've gone with Sarah to get blood. She's the one getting the blood. It's not like we're going out somewhere to get blood. That would be wierd. Anyway...here's a picture of the blood that Sarah's getting right now.

The second day Sarah and I were together she told me about her condition. She doesn't produce her own blood, and so every three weeks needs to have a transfusion. When she told me this I was like, "Well sure, sometimes you have to get the blood." But I didn't really understand it. I didn't understand that when it's almost time for her to get the blood, she gets tired and sometimes cranky (though it's the understandable crankyness, the sort that comes about because you're tired, not because you're a jerk or whatever). I didn't understand that after she gets her blood she's tired and sleepy, because her body is processing all the new blood and working in through her system. I really couldn't grasp the idea that she'd been doing this for pretty much her entire life, that it was something she'd always lived with and always would. It wasn't until I went with her to get a transfusion that I began to understand it a little more; it wasn't until I was with her before and after the transfusion that I began to understand how to be with her during those times. And I would be a total liar if I said that I know what she's going through, but I do know how to be with her now. At least, more than I did before. Like, now I won't try to be all makey-outy when we get home. I'll be all, "I better let her sleep." Then I'll do something useful. Like lesson plans. Blech.

But after her nap, she's totally fine. Then it's like she can't keep her hands off of me, and I'm all like, "Babe, I gots my lesson plans to do, hands off my sexy body." Or maybe not so much. But she is fine, full of energy and ready to go do the things she needs to do. Like go to work and church...and fix my dinner.

First one to post

2007-10-04T13:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, so Sarah totally gets credit for being the first one to talk to me, and the first one to make contact after we met in June, but I get credit for initiating the first kiss, and for making the first post on our blog. Of course, the blog was her idea. Oh well.

So I'm not sure what to put here, so I'll just go ahead and write about where I was two months ago at this time. Two months ago I was leaving Meridian MS, on my way to Jackson to go to a wedding reception, where I would meet Sarah for the second time, only this time, I actually said more than three words to her. For the past three days we'd been messenging each other on Facebook, and so we had a good rapport going, but I was nervous to meet her.

Jason's Ordination

2007-09-12T18:45:00.000-05:00

Jason was ordained to the priesthood on September 11, 2007 in Warsaw, IN. Wow. Ben, Walton, Jason and I travelled in Ben's van all the way up for the occasion(12 hours each way). It was actually not that bad travelling with 3 stinky boys....they kept the ride interesting and I knitted. Ben studied, and Walton was in charge of music for the most part(duh). We even saw some pretty cool stuff:
As we were just riding down the road minding our own business (probably listening to ShrimpBoots), and there was this enormous cross. This is a picture of the biggest cross the four of us have ever seen. EVER. And there it was, just on the side of the road somewhere in Illinois. I was totally surprised by it. So I took a picture of it and here it is. But later I realized how appropriate seeing this random huge thing was.
And don't forget about the chickens...that's right, Jason's aunt has chickens, tons of 'em. And they live in a freakin' tree, right next to the house. Actually, they just roost there at night, like chickens do. But there's like twenty-something chickens in that tree, and come sunrise, they're all letting everyone know the sun's up. Actually, some of them start before then...just ask Ben. Who didn't sleep until twelve...we swear. Really, he didn't.
Meeting Jason's family, witnessing and participating in the ordination service, and just being with him - the whole trip - was in itself a surprise. I didn't know how profound and also how much fun it would be! But there I go again, being surprised by joy. As I watched his parents vest him I was so proud of him and honored to even be in the room. Even though we were so punchy by the time we got back home, the four of us were singing Ben's children's CD's. Teddy Bears named Freddy Bear had no idea we'd be such a fan after 12 straight hours of driving, I'm sure.

New Orleans Trip!

2007-09-03T16:40:00.001-05:00

So this weekend, Jason/Beth and Ben/Barbara came down to New Orleans and spent the weekend! Well, and I came down, too! We stayed in Jason's little temporary St. Charles' space. It's one of those gorgeous shotgun houses right off of St. Charles, down around the Commander's Palace. Not exactly the greatest area of town these days, but we still had a lot of fun. We went a-walking around the French Market and got lunch at the Central Grocery. We got stuck in the rain later in the afternoon so we just parked it under this little pavillion for the rest of the afternoon, listening to a little band play. I keep saying "little". I guess it was just a nice little weekend. Very tourist-y on our parts, but nice.
I must mention Ben's unfortunate accident, however. Jason's back stairs were kind slick what with all the rain and Ben busted and hurt his kidney! Fortunately, he was good to go for dinner. We went to The Palace Cafe and had one of the best suppers I've had in a long time. Super-yum. The four of our friends left Sunday morning, and Jason and I just enjoyed the rest of the weekend, walking around and hunting down restaurants that are no longer in existence! No, we had a great time, and it was really great spending some time with him. I just can't wait until he lives in a place where Barbara and I won't be accosted by the maid! :)

Our first picture!